


Blue Flame

by Fedrane



Series: Lost Body [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: M/M, Sci Fi AU, Strifehart, android!Cloud, strifehart secret santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 05:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9056659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fedrane/pseuds/Fedrane
Summary: “So I was going back home from work and I found this really nice android who was selling lighters and i wanted to give it some money but it kneeled before me so i ran away with it and now i have it at home and it’s working as my housekeeper now?”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anaer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaer/gifts).



> Merry Christmas!

The world has changed. It hit him every time he was going back home from work and had to pass the museum building. The only one left resembling the ones erected in the distant past. Instead of living near the ground, in houses made of stone, everyone wanted to climb even higher, the steel and glass buildings rising from the ground and reaching into the sky. Almost, as if people tried to reach the God himself.

But would God allow machines to reach his plane?

Cyborgs, robots, androids. They were everywhere. In some places it was even harder to spot a real, flesh and blood human, than a machine. They were shopping, driving, working, going out with their pets, holding hands. Just like normal humans did. 

The fast progressing technology allowed people to move their personality, memories and thoughts into machines, each of them created to match the ‘owner’s’ liking. There were no more plastic surgeries - if you weren’t happy with your current body, you simply had to shed your mortal shell and move into a machine, finally looking just like you wanted to. It allowed some to change their gender, their looks or even their life as a whole.

Squall looked at all of the artificial bodies, walking hand in hand with humans. Flesh and blood were just like stone and cement - outdated. Soon breathing people will be like that old building curled next to the countless skyscrapers - living museums.

He pulled his scarf tighter around his neck to guard off the cold and crossed the old street, devoid of any cars. Sure, being a machine definitely had it’s good points. He wouldn’t have to worry about food, weather conditions or even sleeping. But these were all the joys of life he had. Feeling the cold wind biting his cheeks, the smell of fresh baked bread and a pang of hunger, which were all making him change his route to go into the bakery and buy more than he needed. He couldn’t imagine not feeling tired after work or falling asleep while watching a movie. Oh, and one more thing, he thought, nibbling at the sweet loaf he bought a second ago. 

The machines cannot have sex. 

It wasn’t that he had an amazing sex life or anything. But it was still a pleasure, forgotten by the machines, that he would miss. Squall crossed another street, another one, which hadn’t seen any car in years. All of the vehicles were rushing through the skies now, on the Heaven’s Highway - roads built high up between the skyscrapers, hanging between them like bridges. It was simply inconvenient to drive on the ground, when everyone had their homes in the skies. That’s why the closer you lived to the ground, the less prestige you had. Or you were simply stuck in the past and didn’t want to move forward.

Every time he was going back home he needed to cross the streets filled with machines. Most of them were just like tourists, walking aimlessly, taking pictures of the places forgotten by men living in their castles in the sky. But there were some, which didn’t look shiny and pretty like the rest. Androids without silicone skin or just scraps of it, damaged, rusty, simply laying on the streets. 

They couldn’t die, their immortal bodies prevented it, but they were disabled nevertheless. Squall never looked at them. They were the proof, that every civilization had it’s flaws. Scientists promised to give people immortality, a better life inside of a new body, without worrying about food or sleep. But it didn’t matter - most had just enough money to afford the transfer into a new body and completely forgot that these ‘immortal bodies’ needed fixing, needed new parts, checkups. And everything cost them an enormous amount of money.

Squall called them ‘half lives’ in his head. Not really alive, but not dead either. He began walking faster, trying to pass the half-life part of the town as soon, as possible, the sweet loaf forgotten in his hand.

That was the moment, when he saw it. Right in the middle of the street stood an android, which was clearly different from any of the machines around. It’s whole body was covered with a thin, vibrant blue material, draped around its shoulders and head like a cloak, with only hands, feet and empty eye sockets poking from underneath it. It didn’t have any silicone on it’s visible parts, but surprisingly the metal wasn’t rusty or damaged. A bit milky, sure, but it wasn’t something, that a bit of polishing couldn’t fix.

But what made this one android interesting was not only it’s looks, but what it was doing. The machine was holding a bundle of lighters. Not these fancy, steel ones, that everybody was using now, but ones, which definitely remembered the time before the skyscrapers. They weren’t pretty, far from it. Some were partly destroyed, definitely not able to work anymore. Most of the plastic ones had holes in them or were simply split in half, but he also held some of the metal lighters, which looked a bit more safe and had a better chance of working, than the rest. 

As Squall came closer he realized, that what he earlier thought were simple details on the cloak, turned out to be countless lighters attached to a thin chain, wrapped all around the android. Whenever it was moving, the lighters were moving with it, the noise of plastic and metal clashing together following the machine around all the time. And it was always moving around. Walking towards the passer-byers, trying to sell them one of it’s lighters. “Look at this pretty engraving!” it said with it’s soft voice. “It’ll make a perfect souvenir!” 

It was such a bizarre scene, that Squall didn’t know, what to do. He has never seen androids doing something like that. Why would they? Humans had to beg for money, for food, clothing, even a place to sleep. But androids? They were machines, they didn’t need any of it. Even if they were to fall into the lowest of depths, they didn’t care. Machines were eternal, so what if they had to spend a couple of years living on the street? Why care, if one day they will manage to climb back to the very top of the world anyway.

Yet there stood a machine, which cared. And Squall had no idea, how to process the sight before him. He didn’t even get the chance, actually.

Yet another person shooed the blue android away and it quickly shifted its attention to Squall. It jogged to him and he realized, that lighters were even adorning it’s ankles and wrists like unique jewelry. Enchanted by the sight before him he hadn’t realized, that the machine was speaking to him.

“What?” Squall blurted out, finally looking at the android’s eyes. Or more like the place where the eyes would have been.

“I was asking, if you would like to buy one of my lighters.”

Without really thinking Squall pointed at one of the steel ones attached to the chain at the machine’s ankle. “This one.”

If the android before him had any facial muscles and eyes, he’d be pretty sure, that it’d be looking at him with disbelief. But it didn’t last long. The machine chuckled softly and bent down to grab the item. And Squall couldn’t avert his eyes. The way this android was moving was almost sensual, he could see it even with the blue cloak in his way. Small movements to make the lighters rattle against one another, gentle twist of it’s shoulders making the cloak flutter and the way it bent down to touch it’s ankle with these unimaginably long fingers. Without a word the android straightened up and handed Squall the lighter. He quickly took out his wallet and grabbed a bill, with which he would definitely be able to buy all of these lighters and possibly a couple more.

The android suddenly stopped moving, looking at the man’s hand. “I don’t have that much money to give you the change.”

“You don’t need to give me any.” Squall reached for the android’s cold hand and put the bill in it. “This is for you.” The machine stuttered, looked at the bill in it’s hand and did something, that Squall certainly did not expect. 

It began trembling slightly, just like humans did when overcome with emotions. The android hid its face in its hands and even though it couldn’t cry, Squall heard it sobbing softly. He had no idea, what to do in this situation. It was too bizarre, too unnatural for him. Suddenly the android caught his hand and dropped to its knees. Squall could physically feel every single person and machine looking at the weird scene in the middle of the street, as the blue android kept thanking him for being born. 

“Stop it, please” he said softly, touching its shoulder and shaking it slightly. “I’m really happy, that I made your day better, but there is no need to overexaggerate. Please…” He tried his best to make the android stop showing its happiness, not only because it embarrassing, but because of the crowd starting to gather around them. Without having any other option he pulled the machine up by its hand and with no explanation led it as far away from the suddenly overcrowded street, as possible.

It was surprising, how calm the android was. It didn’t question Squall’s actions, it simply followed him obediently, almost like a well trained dog. Squall quickly gave himself a mental slap for even thinking about something like this. After turning another corner they finally stopped running, the human a bit out of breath.

“Why did you run?” the android freed its hand and took a cautious step back. Squall couldn’t blame it; he kind of kidnapped the poor machine, even if it was in his best intentions.

“You shouldn’t have made a scene like that. Besides, it was pretty stupid of me, too. I shouldn’t have given you that much money out in the open like that.” As he looked at the android he realized, that it was slightly tilting its head to the side, as if it didn’t understand his train of thought. He had to admit, that whoever was put into this artificial body knew very well, how to convey emotions without using facial expressions and eyes. Even more, Squall was pretty much amazed by the machine’s capabilities. 

“These other machines could have stole the money from you, wouldn’t they?” he explained with a soft sigh. It was a pretty damn good reason for him. Having so much money and no place to keep it safe or hide it could have made the blue android an easy prey for thieves. In the half-life part of town you could never be sure, if your best friend won’t become your worst enemy within a couple of minutes.

Calm, the machine adjusted the blue material on its shoulders and looked at Squall for a moment. Or that’s what he thought. It was hard to judge without seeing the machine’s eyes.

“I…” the android began fiddling with the bracelet of lighters on its wrist, betraying it’s own nervousness. “I’m very happy, that you gave me so much money, but I cannot accept it.” Before Squall could protest the machine silenced him by pulling the makeshift hood off its head. He was expecting to see something similar to a tin bucket that other androids had, but this one, even without silicone, looked very human. Its head resembled a human one, stripped off of all skin and without eyeballs. Whenever the android was moving it’s head countless string-like fibres were moving along with it, stretching and loosening at all times. If Squall didn’t know, what was standing before him, he could easily mistake this complex map of strings for real muscle fibers. Looking at it was enchanting, and he almost forgot, what he was talking about just a couple of seconds ago. 

“I only wanted to hel-”

“Can I work for you?”

 

\---

 

“Laguna?”

“Yeah buddy, how’s it hangin’?”

“Long, loose and full of juice” Squall groaned in reply, the quality of the joke hurting his very soul, and Laguna’s hologram burst into laughter. 

“Something very horrible must have happened if you’re in the mood for disgusting jokes.”

The brunet looked at his friend’s hologram, not really sure where to start. Laguna simply smiled at Squall, waiting for him to begin the seemingly long story.

“So I was going back home from work and I found this really nice android who was selling lighters and i wanted to give it some money but it kneeled before me so i ran away with it and now i have it at home and it’s working as my housekeeper now?”

“Wait, you did what?!” Laguna’s holo shook and if Squall had to guess by the sound, his friend must have hit his desk pretty hard. “How the fuck did that happen?”

Squall shrugged in reply, not really sure how to explain the whole situation better. “Laguna, I have an android at home. And. Its. My. Housekeeper.” His friend looked at him with pure shock on his face, as the information slowly made it’s way through his brain.

“Buddy, you gotta give me a minute to process this mess.”

Squall liked his dear friend, but sometimes he truly wanted to decapitate him. For his jokes, flirts, stupid ideas - everything, actually. When he first met Laguna, he was quite horrified. Back then Squall was just an intern, who all of a sudden got appointed to work with Laguna, the CEO of Esthar, the most well-known android development company. He was pretty sure, that the leader of such a big company would be someone utterly horrifying, merciless and cold. Laguna was the complete opposite. After the initial shock subsided Squall got to know his boss better and soon enough they became friends. Even with the 10 years age gap, they remained close after Squall left the company.

“Okay, now tell me, what model is it?”

“No idea.” Laguna’s hologram raised its brow, but he didn’t comment.

“Which company at least?”

“Dunno.”

“Serial number?”

“...”

“Do you know anything?!” Squall winced at the sudden outburst. He had to admit, Laguna was right. He took in an android without knowing too much about it, but how could he resist? He was about to say something, but a knock on the door startled him.

“Mister Leonhart?” came a puzzled voice from the other side of the door. “Did anything happen?” 

One glance at Laguna was enough to see, that his friend was surprised. Squall groaned, but got up from his chair to open the door. The android was once again covered head to toe by the blue material, its head slightly tilted to the side. The chains of lighters were gone; only one bracelet remained on its wrist.

“Everything is alright, I’m just talking with my friend.” The machine peeked into the room, searching for another human, but instead found a hologram sitting on one of the chairs. With huge interest Squall looked at the way the android pulled its head back, then tilted it to the side once again and took a careful step forward. Must have been its first time seeing an advanced holo like this. Normally people still used cameras, since they were cheap and reliable. The richer ones had blue holograms, but they had a tendency to blur and the person had to constantly be standing in one place. Squall’s holos were different. They were, of course, a gift from Laguna. Whoever stood in Squall’s room could become a highly detailed, fully coloured hologram, which could also move freely around the whole room. He only used it with Laguna, though. 

The android shifted uncomfortably and made a noise, which could only be defined as a cough. “Then I’m sorry for intruding. I’ll just...go back to the other room.”

“Wait!”

Both Squall and his new housekeeper turned to look at Laguna’s hologram, which was now standing in the middle of the room, curiosity clearly visible on it’s face. “Let the poor thing into the room, I wanna see it!”

Squall couldn’t argue with his friend. Without a word of complaint he made space for the android to pass him and stand next to Laguna. The machine was still invisible for his ex-boss, but it was only a matter of recalibrating the hologram. He fiddled with a small monitor on his desk, and soon countless tiny blue beams of light began tracing the outline of his housekeeper’s body. They were creating a virtual model of the machine, remembering its shape to always keep projecting it in Laguna’s office, and to not mistake it for a chair or desk.

It didn’t take long. After just a minute Laguna hummed in contemplation, most likely checking the android from all sides. Like he could see much with the machine covered in the blue material.

“So, can you tell us, who you are?” the CEO wasn’t one to beat around the bush, cutting to the chase right off the bat. The android took a small step back, its head moving ever so slightly from side to side, as if it wa searching for an escape route. ‘Must be scared’, Squall thought, but couldn’t do much about it.

“I… I don’t know, mister.” it finally managed to say, its voice faltering a bit. “I don’t remember much. I think my name is Cloud, but i could be wrong… And I believe that i used to be a human male.” The android clasped it’s hands together and pulled them close to it’s chest. Squall looked at his friend, his brow raised.

“Rings a bell?” Laguna shook his head in response.

“Can I see your body?” The android instantly took another step back and turned its head towards Squall, as if searching for help. He put his hand on the machine’s shoulder, trying to calm it down a bit.

“Laguna is the CEO of Esthar, he can help you if you need repairing.”

This must have given the android enough reassurance. It nodded slightly and a bit reluctantly began untangling itself from the blue material. soon enough it was standing in front of Laguna and Squall, but none of them could say a word.

Before them stood the most technologically advanced android they have ever seen.

Most skinless androids looked like a crossbreed of a skeleton and a tin can - ugly and cold. But Cloud was like a moving piece of art. He looked as if someone took a very skinny person and simply wrapped it with kilometers of thin, silver thread, shaping it to look like muscles. But it wasn’t all. The nanofiber strings were behaving just like real muscles did, twitching, stretching and relaxing with the android’s every movement. Squall saw the machine’s head earlier that day, but seeing the whole body being as complex, as the head, was something completely different. Cloud didn’t even need the silicone skin, to resemble a human.

“Misters?” the android said, breaking the silence, it’s mouth moving along with it’s words, perfectly mimicking human lips. None of the humans could say anything; they were too surprised, amazed and shocked to say anything coherent. Laguna’s hologram moved closer to the android, looking closely at all of the synthetic muscles, inspecting closely every curve of its body. Squall thought that an android like this one must have hurt his pride. He was supposed to be the CEO of the most technologically advanced company, creating best androids in the whole world, yet right there stood a machine, which surpassed all of his creations. To say even more, none of his androids were even half as advanced, as this one. Forget the beautiful factor. 

“I have never seen a model like this.” Laguna admitted, circling the android and looking closely at each part of it’s body. “You could have been a male before, if i have to judge by the body.”

Too interested to not check Squall looked closer at the machine’s body. The only real gender indicator in this situation was the chest - androids didn’t have any genitals, and this one wasn’t an exception.

Suddenly Laguna stood up from crouching and Squall saw him moving his arms in the air. He quickly recognized this movement for writing - the holograms were pretty advanced, but they could only project things, that were coded for them. That’s why Laguna could only be seen waving his hands in the air like a madman.

“Mister,” Squall quickly turned his attention back to Cloud. “Could I go back to work?” His voice sounded so frightened, that Squall simply couldn’t say no. He gave back the blue material to the android, so it could wrap itself in it once again and nodded.

“Sure thing, I’ll be there soon as well.” The machine didn’t need to be told twice. It quickly left the room, closing the door behind itself as softly, as possible. When it was gone Squall turned to Laguna, waiting for his friend to tell him, what he has found out. The CEO looked at him, his eyes shining with pure, childish excitement.

“He’s from Shinra!”

 

\---

 

Cloud gently closed the door behind him, to not wake up Squall by any chance, and made his way towards the big couch, standing right in front of the huge glass wall. He put a thick blanket on the couch, but it wasn’t for his comfort; his body, even though it looked quite human, had a lot of small, sharp elements, which could possibly destroy anything he touched. That was one of the reasons, why he kept wrapping himself in the blue material. The android sat on the soft sofa and pulled his knees closer to his chest.

So many things happened in the last couple of hours. He got a new home, easy and well-paid work, even a brand new set of clothes. And it wasn’t just any home. His employer lived so high up, that the streets below looked more like tiny threads and the sky seemed to be just at the arm’s reach. When Cloud asked Squall, why was he casually walking through the dirty slums, he didn’t give him any answer. Not like it really mattered to Cloud or anything. Thanks to the human’s weird behavior he now had a place to stay and a bright future ahead of him. He was a bit scared of Laguna though. He kept staring at his body without any word and it was really unnerving. As an apologize for having to ‘strip’ before the hologram Squall later gave the android a set of clothes, which Squall never got to use. Even though Christmas was two weeks away Cloud felt, like this whole day was the best Christmas gift he could ever get.

Looking through the huge window he wondered, what all of the people in these countless rooms in the skyscraper across him were doing. Could they see him, an android in a hoodie and jeans, sitting on a couch in a vast room? Could they see his happiness? He doubted it, but it was still nice to fantasize. 

‘Commencing hibernation!’ he heard a synthesized voice say in his head. So it was already time to sleep. Normal androids didn’t have to sleep, but he was different - he didn’t have the need to charge any kind of battery; he was simply recharging himself through a couple of hours of hibernation. 

With a soft sigh Cloud laid down on the couch and waited for the countdown in his head to reach zero.

 

\---

 

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Cloud was spending all of his days inside of Squall’s big, yet very minimalistic, apartment. It wasn’t bad - he could do anything he wanted and whenever he wanted, without anyone judging him. Squall didn’t give him many responsibilities; he only needed to clean the apartment, make breakfast and prepare dinner. Maybe do laundry from time to time, but there usually wasn’t much to wash. Cloud didn’t have any body fluids and always tried his best to not dirty the clothes he got from his employer while doing chores, and it was taking Squall ages to fill just one laundry basket with dirty clothes.

The android was a bit sad, that he didn’t get to spend more time with the human. He was always going to work very early in the morning and kept coming back very late. Then he’d just eat whatever Cloud prepared for him without any complaining, take a shower and go to sleep straight afterwards. Their talks were usually very short and the android started wondering, if it was by any chance his fault. Maybe Squall was seeing him only as a machine, designed to keep his house in check? Maybe he was actually regretting his sudden decision of taking him in? 

A soft sigh left Cloud’s lips as he sat on his favourite spot on the couch, looking out the window. Snow was slowly falling from the sky and the android wondered, how it would feel to the touch. He couldn’t say, if things were cold or hot, soft or hard. In his mind everything appeared as a series of numbers, allowing him to touch things without destroying them or prepare a meal that a flesh and bone human could enjoy. Everything would have been much easier, if he could remember his life as a human.

Cloud reached for a book laying on the table before him. It was one of the tales from the time before skyscrapers and machines, which Squall brought for Cloud from work. A rare thing, not seen in the shops anymore. The android gently touched the cover of the book, tracing the beautiful letters with his gloved fingers. “The Silver Chair”. He really liked this book. It was full of wonder, suspense and action. And the way the author described the children’s feelings and thoughts was truly unique. Cloud really liked it, when Squall was bringing him back books.

They were always in original editions, hardcovers and paper, not the ‘electronical trash copies’, as Squall liked to call them. Working as one of the head archivists and librarians he could bring back home any book he wanted, be it a children’s story or a Herlequin. After he found out, that Cloud haven’t read anything in his life, he began coming back with a stack of books of all kind, just for the android. Cloud chuckled, remembering the first time his employer showed up after work with a bag filled with literature, and opened the book at the last page he read.

But he didn’t get to enjoy the story for long.

After reading a couple of pages he suddenly heard a soft beep coming from the direction of the door. He knew this noise very well, since it was the sound of opening the apartment door with card key, but it was way too early for Squall to come back. It was still bright outside and his employer never came back home before late evening.

Alarmed, Cloud stood up from his place on the couch to watch the door open. All of a sudden instead of one android in the apartment there were four humans and a lone, completely confused machine. Two girls and two men, each of them carrying bags filled with unknown content barged into the room, as if it was their own home. Cloud was so shocked, that he couldn’t move even an inch, the humans definitely far too occupied with their loud talking and arguing over the bags to notice him standing right across the room.

Suddenly a sharp ringing made everyone freeze in place. Completely terrified the android looked at the multi-purpose watch he got from his employer, its small monitor telling him, that Squall was waiting for him to pick up. Feeling the intruders’ eyes on him Cloud touched the green button. The face of his employer appeared on the small screen.

“Mister Leonhart?” he said, trying to sound and look as calm, as possible, but his voice faltered nevertheless.

“Cloud, I just got a call, that we will have guests coming over for dinner. Can you prepare some more food?” the android took a glance at the crowd standing at their front door. Squall must have understood everything. He let out a tired sigh. “Take care of these idiots, I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes, Mister Leonhart.” he replied quickly and hung up. Feeling a bit more confident and having a better understanding of the situation Cloud pulled the hoodie to cover his head a bit more and came closer to the bunch still standing dumbfounded next to the door.

“Um, hello,” he started off a bit awkwardly, adjusting the sleeves of his hoodie to cover all of his body. “I’m Cloud, mister Leonhart’s housekeeper. I will take care of you until mister Leonhart comes back from work.” Using their shock as an opportunity Cloud looked at their faces to judge, who he will have to take care of. 

One of the women was quite an elegant beauty; she had a beautiful blond braid and icy blue eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. Her salomon cocktail dress was definitely designed to show off all of her body’s curves. The other female looked way more wild; short brown hair was sticking in all directions, making her vibrant green eyes stand out even more on her pale face. Underneath her yellow suit Cloud would swear that he saw the outline of mechanical enhancements, but he couldn’t say, what they were.

The man with long, brown hair and a cowboy hat was an enhanced as well. Cloud could see a thin, metal plating on the right side of the man’s neck. He couldn’t see, where the plates were ending because of the man’s light brown coat, but he was pretty sure, that metal was covering at least half of his arm. But for Cloud the last one was the most unique persona of them all. A short man with a tribal tattoo on the side of his face, with short, uniquely styled spiky blond hair and turquoise eyes. This one definitely didn’t have any enhancements; his black, leather jacket and pants were tightly hugging his body, not giving room for imagination.

Could felt overwhelmed, standing in front of so many people he didn’t know, all of them looking, as if they just got out of a beauty salon. And there was Cloud, all bundled up in a hoodie, sweatpants,gloves and thick socks, being as stylish, as ever.

“Holy shit! I thought he was lying!” came a sudden, overexcited yell. The short man quickly ran towards Cloud, making the android back off instinctively, and put his arms on his shoulders, squeezing them with the strength befitting a transporter android. This time it was the housekeeper, who stood completely frozen before the guests, not really sure, how to react to the sudden spike of attention.It was just a matter of seconds, before all four of them were standing around Cloud, cheking him out from every possible angle. He felt bad, too vulnerable. He couldn’t even keep up with their words. They just kept commenting on his appearance, talking some things about Squall that he had no idea about and just being way too loud for him. 

He finally couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Excuse me, I need to return to my duties” Cloud said, his voice betraying his annoyance. The uproar finally subsided, everyone’s eyes once again locking on Cloud’s hidden face. “Mister Leonhart would like to have dinner prepared for everyone and I don’t want to upset him.” He continued, praying in his mind for the visitors to leave him alone. He’d still need to have an eye on them, for sure, but at least they wouldn’t keep staring at him. It was the elegant woman who realized Cloud’s annoyance and shooed the rest of the party away from him. 

“I apologize, we didn’t know, that someone would be at home.” she said, taking some of the boxes they brought with them and following the android to the kitchen. “And you don’t need to prepare any dinner. We got some food with us.”

Cloud walked into the open kitchen, still wary of the sudden guests, the elegant woman and cowboy man following him inside. They put the boxes on the counter and opened them, revealing lot’s of amazing looking food. Cloud could only imagine, how good it must have smelt. He recognized honey glazed ham, prawns in garlic, mushroom lasagna and caesar salad.

There were many more, but the android simply stopped paying attention. Food wasn’t something, that mattered to him personally. He had some vague memories of cooking from his past and was only able to cook so much for Squall, but he wasn’t really complaining.

The cowboy stopped unboxing the food for a second and looked at Cloud with a soft smile.

“Right, we forgot to introduce ourselves.” He took off his hat and bowed gracefully before Cloud. If the android could, he would definitely be blushing slightly. “I’m Irvine and this is Quistis. The other two are Selphie and Zell. You can say, that we are Squall’s siblings.”

This day couldn’t be any more shocking for Cloud. He assumed many things, but siblings? They all looked nothing alike; maybe Selphie and Zell could pass as relatives for their energetic behaviour, but Squall didn’t add up to this equation at all. He was too calm, too composed to be a part of this pack. The android looked at the short duo, which was searching for something in the main room, the one with huge window and Cloud’s favourite couch, to confirm his thoughts. They were both constantly chatting, laughing and basically being ridiculous, sometimes even crawling on the floor in search of something.

“I can hardly imagine these two being mister Leonhart’s relatives.” he said out loud, still utterly confused by the duo’s behaviour.

Suddenly Selphie waved for Zell to come closer and look at something she’s found on the wall right next to the huge window. She took off her canary jacket, revealing her enhancements. Her left forearm was covered with metal and tiny screens, completed with quite a bunch of tiny cables. With a giggle she pulled one of the cables out of her arm and with a swift motion plugged it into the wall. Cloud had a bad feeling about all of this and started moving towards the suddenly calm duo, when out of a sudden Christmas music started blasting out of the speakers hidden all over the house. The android didn’t even know, that this apartment had something like this installed, and couldn’t think of a reason, why Squall would want to have something like that anyway.

But Selphie and Zell weren’t done yet. The woman was still connected to the apartment’s system, pressing various things on her arm with amazing speed.

“Did you find it yet?” the short blond asked, clearly excited about something. This made Cloud even more worried. He came closer to them and took a peek at what Selphie was doing.

“Can I help you?” he asked and the woman turned to him with the most mischievous smile he has seen in all of his life.

“Do you know the password to Squall’s system?”

That definitely took Cloud off guard. Was she actually hacking his employer’s apartment’s system right now? The android suddenly realized, that it must have been Selphie, who opened the apartment for all of them, since they definitely didn’t have a key. And now on top of all of this she was trying to hack the whole system without any good reason.

“Don’t look at me like that! I’m just trying to get the Christmas Tree!”

Cloud couldn’t keep up with her train of thought. He had no idea, what was happening in this apartment, who these people actually were or what business they had here. In the end the android decided to just stand close to the door, where he could see almost the whole apartment, and wait for his employer to come back. 

Hopefully nobody will destroy the place in the meantime. 

 

\---

 

Cloud was so glad, when he finally heard the beep of the card key and saw Squall coming through the door, looking as stylish as ever. He had a short, black winter coat with grey fur around his neck and tight jeans to go along with it. When he closed the door behind him Cloud could see him scanning the whole apartment, looking at all the damage done.

“Mister Leonhart, I’m so sorry, but there wasn’t much I could do,” the android said apologetically and led his employer towards the main room, which now looked nothing, like in the morning.

The guests have set up a big table in the middle of the room, which was filled with various foods and exactly eight plates. A Christmas tree was set up in the corner (Selphie was finally able to hack Squall’s systems and opened up his vault; apparently he was always hiding the tree inside of it, every year hoping, that the four hyenas won’t find it), Christmas carols playing in the whole house. Squall let out a pained sigh and looked at his housekeeper.

“Don’t worry, I’m happy, that at least you still look like you and not like a Christmas gremlin.” Cloud chuckled at that comment and left Squall to greet his siblings. They all suddenly rushed to him, hugging him, kissing and basically being ridiculous, in Cloud’s humble opinion. His employer definitely wasn’t happy about all of the skinship, but he couldn’t do much alone against the horde of overly energetic people. Quistis was the only one trying to keep some cool at first, but she quickly gave in and showered Squall with kisses on his cheeks.

Cloud suddenly felt very lonely, standing next to five siblings, who knew each other very well, could touch each other without any problems, smile, laugh and smell all of those amazing dishes. But there was one piece of the puzzle, which didn’t fit - Cloud. He was happy, that Squall met his siblings after quite a long time, if he had to believe what Irvine told him earlier, but at the same time it was painful to look at. Trying to be as quiet, as possible, Cloud made his way towards his room, giving the family some time alone. He sat on his soft bed and pulled the hood off his head.

He could give everything to remember his past. Being a machine wasn’t half bad, even though he would love to feel, smell and taste again. Cloud took off his clothes and stood in front of the mirror. It was something, that we was doing quite often recently, when Squall wasn’t at home. He traced his neck with his fingers, looking at the mechanical muscles’ movements. He wasn’t just different from humans; even Laguna, the CEO of the most well known company, hasn’t seen anything like him before. It was quite exciting, true, but it was also depressing. Being the only one of his kind only meant, that he wouldn’t be able to find a place between both humans and machines. He couldn’t even say, what he was anymore. At least Squall’s siblings didn’t ask about him; they either didn’t see his body from underneath his clothes and hood, or simply got some information about him earlier from Squall.

Cloud was soon tired of looking at his horrific body. He sat on his bed once again, this time wrapping himself in the blanket, as if it could hide him from the whole world. He then listened to the excited voices coming from the other side of the door.

 

\---

 

A knock to the door made him snap back to reality.

“Come in”

Squall came into the room and as soon, as he saw the android bundled up in the blanket he closed the door behind him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting next to Cloud on the bed. The android saw him frown slightly and burrowed his head in the blanket.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, mister Leonhart. I just don’t think I should be a part of your Christmas dinner.” he said truthfully, hoping for Squall to just let it go and leave him alone to brood. “I’m hideous…” he added in a hushed whisper, bringing his knees closer to his chest. But instead of leaving him alone Squall wrapped his hands around the bundle of blankets, where he supposed Cloud’s body was, giving him a friendly hug.

“You are many things, but hideous is definitely not one of them. You should come out though, Laguna brought you a present.” Cloud’s head instantly shot up from underneath the blanket, looking at Squall with confusion.

“Mister Laguna is here?” he asked, not really sure, how to react. Aside from Squall he didn’t have any memories of receiving gifts, so it was something truly weird for him.

“Yeah, we prepared something for you. Would you like me to bring it here?” Cloud simply nodded in response. He didn’t wanted to go outside of his room with no clothes on. He was conscious of his body as it was; getting out of the room naked was simply too much for him. Squall soon came back with a big box under his arm and asked, if Laguna could come inside as well. After he approved both his employer and his friend came into the room, carrying a big box with them. Cloud was pretty sure, that the box was at least his size, if not bigger, and it had a huge, blue ribbon on it. Squall and Laguna put it down next to the bed and Cloud couldn’t keep his curiosity in check. Still wrapped in the blanket he slipped out of his bed to look closely at the package.

“Mister Laguna, what is this?” he asked, looking up at the CEO. He looked exactly as the hologram, his turquoise eyes staring at the android with uncontained excitement. Before Cloud got his answer Laguna shooed Squall away, telling him to wait for them outside.

“I got something special for you.” he said with a huge, friendly smile on his lips and helped Cloud open the box.

 

\---

 

Squall and his siblings were sitting at the table, chatting lazily. It was a tradition to spend the Christmas Eve at Squall’s place, but he was always questioning the fact, why they never told him, when they were all coming. He was usually making plans with Laguna and then the whole gang was suddenly charging through the door and making his whole apartment a mess.

This year wasn’t much different. Squall hoped, that his siblings would be a bit less excited about the whole “Christmas party” idea when they saw Cloud, but he couldn’t be more wrong. That made them all go for it even more. At least Laguna wasn’t as horrible, as the rest of the gang. Squall was a bit hurt, that the android left him alone with his siblings without saying a word, but he knew, that he couldn’t blame him. It was all very sudden and Cloud was pretty bad around people, because of his unusual body.

He nibbled at the ham, waiting for Laguna to come back. Selphie was bombarding him with dark humor, Zell was stuffing his face and Irvine and Quistis were too occupied with singing christmas carols to care. Finally, the door to Cloud’s room opened. Laguna came out first, holding Cloud’s hand and softly encouraging him, to come out and show himself. For the first time in what seemed like hours the room fell silent.

Right next to Laguna, clutching his hand with his two, stood Cloud, trying to look as small, as possible. Squall couldn’t believe his eyes. His housekeeper looked like a real, flesh and blood, human. Laguna told him, that he managed to create a skin replica for Cloud using the hologram’s data, but he definitely surpassed his every creation. If Squall saw Cloud on the streets, he would mistake him for a human. But skin wasn’t everything - Launa managed to implant eyelashes and brows into the silicone and gifted Cloud with a spiky, blond wig. But what made Squall’s heart skip a beat were the android’s eyes. Vibrant blue irises were staring at him, as if they could see right through his very soul. As a finishing touch Laguna gifted the housekeeper with a new set of clothes - a black, sleeveless turtleneck and fitting jeans, which were covering the joining points of the skin. One thing didn’t change though - the lighter bracelet was still on the android’s wrist.

Cloud was holding Laguna’s hand as if his life depended on it, looking completely terrified. Now with the synthetic skin in place Squall realized, that the android was amazingly expressive, furrowing his brow, slightly worrying his lip and hunching a bit, trying to make himself appear smaller. Squall couldn’t take it. He quickly stood up from the table and ran up to the android, pulling him into an embrace.

“Merry Christmas Cloud. You look beautiful,” he whispered, giving the android a gentle squeeze. what he did not expect, was for Cloud to suddenly wrap his hands around him and return the embrace. The housekeeper was shaking slightly in Squall’s arms and sobbing gently right next to his ear. Once again Squall was astonished by the android’s expressiveness; he was a machine, yet he was showing his feelings in a way even most humans didn’t. At first he wasn’t sure if working on Cloud’s skin behind his back was a good idea, but seeing him now, coming undone right in front of everyone was worth every money and every sleepless night.

“Laguna told me, that it was all your idea… Thank you…” Cloud whispered after calming down a bit, still clutching Squall’s shirt. The brunet had to admit, that this was most likely the best Christmas, he has ever had.

 

\---

 

“God, I’m tired!”

Squall sat down next to Cloud on the android’s favourite sofa after dismissing the last one of his guests. It was a day full of surprises for Cloud and he had a hard time processing, what has actually happened.

After untangling himself from Squall he got invited to sit at the Christmas table with everyone, with Laguna clearly telling him, that he won’t take a ‘no’ as an answer. 

He felt a bit weird being the only one who wasn’t eating anything, but he couldn’t do anything against it. He did have some kind of teeth as a cosmetic addition though.

Throughout the dinner Cloud wasn’t saying much, listening to all of the more or less embarrassing stories about Squall and laughing together with Zell and Selphie whenever his employer groaned in annoyance. No one judged him for his appearance. Quistis even told him, that he looked more handsome than Irvine, what was clearly a huge lie, in Cloud’s humble opinion. The android pulled his knees closer to his chest and let out a soft sigh. It has truly been an amazing day.

All of a sudden Squall wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him with him, to lay down on the sofa. Cloud found himself laying right on top of his employer’s chest, not sure, what to do or say.

“Mister Leonhart?” he asked, looking up at the human.

“Hmm, you’re incredibly light, just as I thought.” Squall said, frowning slightly. “And can you stop calling me by my family name? I feel like an old man.” Cloud’s brows shot up in confusion.

“Did you drink too much, mis… Squall?”

“I may be a bit tipsy, but I’m definitely not drunk.”

And that was the moment, when that day became truly memorable for Cloud - Squall looked at him and smiled. And what a smile that was. Out of all of the presents he got that day, this one smile was the best out of all of them. He couldn’t stop himself and pulled his lips in a soft smile as well.

“You’re totally drunk.”

“Fight me.”

Cloud laughed at that and was about to pull himself up, when suddenly Squall put a hand on his cheek and gently pressed his lips to the android’s forehead. The confused machine wanted to ask him, what that was all about, but then he remembered Zell tying a mistletoe right above the sofa.

He’ll have to thank him later.

“Merry Christmas, Squall.” Cloud laid his head more comfortably on his friend’s chest, smiling to himself like a madman.

This day couldn’t be more perfect.


End file.
